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HelpRe: What names have american association to you?
in reply to a message by InvisibleDreamer
As an American I'm unsure I can answer this objectively.
I would agree that the surname of presidents as first names seems like an American name. Sometimes I think there's plausible deniability that there's an association with the president specifically - Jackson and Carter and a few like that seem commonplace enough that I imagine many parents don't even think about a presidential association. But I've encountered more children named Reagan than I'd ever imagine (politics aside, I think it's just an ugly-sounding name) ; Kennedy seems to have entered the mainstream; I've encountered more people named Roosevelt and McKinley than I would've guessed; so who knows.
It's interesting to me that we haven't seen Bush or Obama enter any kind of mainstream... I wonder if that will come or if it will be seen as gauche. The popularity of Clinton seems to have actually diminished during after the Clinton presidency/Hillary Clinton's years in the political spotlight. Then again, it is absolutely fascinating to me that Nixon appears to be having a moment in the sun in the United States, so who knows what the future will bring there.
(Genuine question for non-US citizens: do you ever encounter this for world leaders elsewhere? Like, is there any kind of chance that you'd encounter someone with the first name of Putin, or Erdoğan, or Ardern, or Thatcher, or Trudeau, or Merkel, or Macron, or any other international political leader? I almost think I'd be more likely to encounter a child with those names in the US than elsewhere, considering how certain cults of personality exist in the US for certain international leaders.)
I'd also guess that place names that seem specifically associated with places in the United States might fit the bill.
My US-centric myopia is showing here but I'd guess that names that are closely associated with American television shows that are widely viewed internationally are associated with Americans. The kinds of names I might associate with an early-aughts teen drama like One Tree Hill or The O.C. perhaps.
Andrew
put a smile on your face - make the world a better place (:
I would agree that the surname of presidents as first names seems like an American name. Sometimes I think there's plausible deniability that there's an association with the president specifically - Jackson and Carter and a few like that seem commonplace enough that I imagine many parents don't even think about a presidential association. But I've encountered more children named Reagan than I'd ever imagine (politics aside, I think it's just an ugly-sounding name) ; Kennedy seems to have entered the mainstream; I've encountered more people named Roosevelt and McKinley than I would've guessed; so who knows.
It's interesting to me that we haven't seen Bush or Obama enter any kind of mainstream... I wonder if that will come or if it will be seen as gauche. The popularity of Clinton seems to have actually diminished during after the Clinton presidency/Hillary Clinton's years in the political spotlight. Then again, it is absolutely fascinating to me that Nixon appears to be having a moment in the sun in the United States, so who knows what the future will bring there.
(Genuine question for non-US citizens: do you ever encounter this for world leaders elsewhere? Like, is there any kind of chance that you'd encounter someone with the first name of Putin, or Erdoğan, or Ardern, or Thatcher, or Trudeau, or Merkel, or Macron, or any other international political leader? I almost think I'd be more likely to encounter a child with those names in the US than elsewhere, considering how certain cults of personality exist in the US for certain international leaders.)
I'd also guess that place names that seem specifically associated with places in the United States might fit the bill.
My US-centric myopia is showing here but I'd guess that names that are closely associated with American television shows that are widely viewed internationally are associated with Americans. The kinds of names I might associate with an early-aughts teen drama like One Tree Hill or The O.C. perhaps.
put a smile on your face - make the world a better place (:
This message was edited 6/7/2025, 9:29 AM
